>> morning everyone. i want to welcome other folks that missed breakfast. so glad you are here. another exciting day planned for you. have you had a good time so far? have you learned something so far? have you met someone new? that is good. thank you for saying yes to all of those. it is really awkward to hear no. we had a great day yesterday. we had some compelling discussions and great rake out sessions, and hopefully a chance for you to get together with other mayors and introduce yourselves and talk about what is happening in your community. we are keeping the pace up today with another fantastic day. i know this room is packed because we have some special speakers, some great folks who are going to present to you. to kick off this session, we have a fascinating discussion on a best practice. -- unfortunately for something more of us are dealing with, reducing flooding through green infrastructure. some editing -- so many communities are experiencing multiple 500 year floods, events that dropped eight inches of rain an hour. we are struggling with overwhelmed sewer systems. this talk will give you ideas to take home to your community. please welcome to the stage, nora mcdonald, program director for the walton family foundation. andon western room, fayetteville mayor lionel jordan. let's give them a round of applause for our opening panel. [applause] >> good morning. i love that. the nora mcdonald from family foundation. we are a foundation that is led by three generations of walton family and spouses. the foundation works in three program areas. education,-12 improving quality of life in weansas and mississippi, and work on conservation of rivers, oceans around the world. by sharonm joined weston broom of baton rouge, louisiana, and the mayor of faithful, arkansas to talk about the role of green infrastructure , and helping cities with flooding and other water management challenges. i have a few questions. i think there are a lot of mayors out there who want to hear from you. made national headlines in 2016 as flooding overtook the city impacting hundreds of homes. us thatts are telling record flood of events like this are going to become more common. lines are on the front dealing with these events, what have you learned in baton rouge about being ready for flooding, and what words of advice you have for other mayors in the room that are thinking specifically about national green infrastructure? >> i will start by sharing with you my story. in 2016, i was in my house and i was in a no flood zone. myever even thought about house flooding, but what we had was a torrential rain that lasted for three days. often times when people think about louisiana, they think about hurricanes. this was not a hurricane, this was just water coming down consistently and overtaking us. as a result, my home was flooded. just to show you as a leader, i stayed until the last minute because in my mind, my home was not going to flood. that is the first lesson we can all learn. i was my home thinking going to come back the next day, that sunday night i did not get back until a year and a half later. is that we have to make sure that when we hear about a potential hazard or crisis, that they take it very seriously. int forward, we had an event 2019 that was anticipated, and i got out front early and make sure all of our people were proactive. fortunately, we were blessed not to have the event, but i noticed there was an elevated response by the community. i would also say that we have to think more about natural green infrastructure. look at mitigating our flood potential. we are doing that now as we roll out one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the history of my city. we are looking at how we can incorporate water management in everything that we do. we can no longer just think myopically, we have to think -- when you live in a community where water is a way of life, you have to think about water management in everything that you do. that is what we are doing. i would say that as a result of the flood, we put together a came of stakeholders that out with a recovery plan. aboute are thinking pillars like community planning, health care, all people in those spaces came together with a plan of action for recovery, which makes us more resilient as a city and as a parish. i hope and pray that we don't have another flood event like we had in 2016, but i can tell you we are in a better position at a better place to address it. >> that was helpful. thate how you played out water infrastructure isn't just an environmental issue, it is part of every decision you make. mayor jordan, you had a different set of challenges. you have a growing population, you have stormwater management challenges. you have flooding increasingly that you are addressing in real-time. what opportunities do you see to use green or natural infrastructure? three 100 year flood situations in our city and the last 10 years. at one point, there was 10 inches of rain in an hour. it was quite devastating. you would think living in the hills like we do we don't have too much trouble with flooding, but we do because it comes off the hills and floods the flat areas. we have a lot of erosion. restored three streams in our city, and spent over $5 million doing that. we knew that we had to address the erosion problems because if you don't do that, pretty soon your whole city is going to erode away. if y'all are living in places where you have a lot of erosion, you are going to have to address it right now. you can't wait 10 years and say we are going to do this or that, you have to do it right now. i truly believe in climate change. i think it is real. i think it is an emergency situation. we need to address it together. bond issue, $15 million just for addressing flooding situations. that is just to get us up to speed to where we are. that does not count what it is going to cost to maintain all at -- all that. you have to figure out what your situation is, and plan for the future. that is going to take long-term maintenance. like stream things restoration projects. you cannot build within 25 feet of our streams on either side. we are looking at stormwater utility. i know a lot of folks do not want to hear that, but we are looking at stormwater utility where everybody chips in. the bond program that we passed, we are going to be able to do a lot of stuff. that does not address what we have to do in the future. climate change is real. this is one of the ways we address it. can't encourage enough to prepare for tomorrow today. those 500 year floods, address it right now. now, the city of fayetteville, we are doing some cutting stuff along that line. that is where we are right now. >> did you want to comment? >> i so agree with what the mayor said. i recently told people -- we as mayors have to realize this. i agree with what you said about climate change, but i am not going to spend my time debating climate change while my people go underwater. [applause] what i have to do is act on it. that is exactly what we have to do. we have to act. someone -- someone sent b and e bell saying what are you doing there in city hall? is flooding, like i am sitting there pushing buttons making their subdivisions flood. [applause] >> we have to realize now we are getting what they call showers on steroids. that is all part of climate change. we have got to educate our people about this. >> that is a good point. you guys are each facing your own water management challenges, but you also are in a community where people are seeing these more and more across the country. where do you go to work with other leaders to share and learn? how do you approach this issue? >> i am fortunate that i work with one organization, the mississippi river cities and towns initiative, we have mayors who have cities along the mississippi river. what i love about that group is that our whole focus is on water management. we focus on the mississippi river. the value of the river, as well as the challenges we face. if we were to take surveys across this room, there probably are mayors father -- farther than fayetteville, up into the minnesota, iowa down to the gulf coast that have been impacted by flooding or water events. focus very specifically on water management and how we collaboration of mayors to address such issues and policies like water so we can all receive benefits from policies taking place on the federal level. >> that is music to my ears. they are one of our partners. have 700,000 people right now. all of the cities up and down that region all work together. we meet every 2-3 months at northwest agricultural regional. stuff,doing cutting-edge but it starts there. it starts with where you are and what you are going to do. learned in this job, you can't do anything by yourself. you have to have everybody helping you. everybody working together. a region from point to point b, but you can't do it by yourself. i have been working with powerful leaders and we are making it happen up there. partner up, get it done, move it along. >> i like that. time, ie running low on want to give you guys a chance to have the last word. tell me why this conversation is important. >> i would say that this conversation is vitally important because, just like i thought it would never happen to me, it is happening all over the place. -- ink it is advantageous know it is advantageous for mayors as leaders on the local level where people expect us to get things done, that this becomes an integral part of our priorities as mayors. i would encourage other mayors to collaborate with mayors who have gone through this experience so we can share our best practices as well as our experiences and lessons learned. >> that is great. did you want to? two things we can do with the earth and protecting the environment. we can manage it, we can protect it, we can take care of it, or we can destroyed. those choices are up to us. i choose to protect the environment. i choose to protect the earth because it is not just me, i am thinking about my children and my children's children. what are we going to leave for them? it changedg to have and fixed moving forward? or are we going to leave them a desolated earth? i do not think there is anybody in this room that wants to leave this place worse for our children then we have right now. it is going to take a grassroots movement of every mayor in this fix theto change and problems that we see before us. if we don't do it now, when is it going to get done? [applause] take it seriously. let's move forward. i do not wait. i am constantly on the move my staff will tell you i am a restless individual. [laughter] what i believe i believe very strongly. protecting the environment for my children's children is what i'm going to do and i'm going to start right now today. [laughter]-- [applause] >> i think we are lucky. i work on the mississippi river and i am lucky that i have mayors like you guys standing up for the river and thinking about how your communities can live with the river. thank you guys for joining us. [applause] ♪ >> how about another round of applause for that last panel? [applause] we are going to keep on moving with our very exciting and interesting agenda. it is now my distinct honor to introduce the mayor of the city of chicago to our winter meeting for the first time. --or lightfoot was elected you can clap in just a second -- she was elected in 2019, making chicago currently the largest city in the country to be led by a woman. how about that? [applause] i had the privilege of attending mayor lightfoot's inaugural speech. it was interesting, she talked howt the chicago flag, and it has four stars. the four pillars of what she wanted to accomplish in her administration. she was nailing it. she was talking about reinvigorating the neighborhoods and standing up for economic development. fourth pillar, in tremendous fashion -- she is on a stage with about 8000 people in the crowd and all of her aldermen are behind her and her last pillar, she turned around to the crowd and said the fourth pillar is we are ending corruption. orderigning an executive ending aldermen privilege immediately. the applause kind of stopped behind her and the rest of the crowd was like that is fantastic. [laughter] she is dedicated to ending racial inequities with a safety strategy to address gun violence. she is working to repair trust between police and communities through a comprehensive plan to ensure equitable investment. mayor lightfoot let it be known that she wanted to be very active in the conference of mayors, and she has done exactly that. she visited us in rochester for the fall meeting my end has been available every time i have asked her. new andin judgment, the incredibly exciting mayor of the city of chicago, my friend mayor lori lightfoot. [applause] thank you mayor barnett. thatl get back into for meme you put up of me yesterday. [laughter] >> i have to give a heartfelt thanks to mayor barnett and the conference staff. from day one, you have embraced me and my team and brought a really incredible support and resources from this conference. i am honored to be a part of it. -- as you know, we are democrats, republicans and independents. charged with representing cities and towns of all sizes. from those significant factors that can divide us, mayors realize there is more that unites us. washington has largely abandoned the mantle of leadership on most of the pressing issues impacting millions of americans that we represent. partnerships between local, state and federal levels who govern are essential. mayors cannot move the needle alone -- mayors can move the needle alone, but nearly the -- not nearly as far as needed. when basic cooperation is not existent, mayors have a responsibility to fill the void. to pick up the mantle and raise at higher. chicago, the mayor of there is no higher calling than the safety of our residents. too many lives have been cut short by devastating violence. families suffer from the ongoing trauma it creates, and communities are left forever shattered. this is a story playing out across america. i have, and always will reach out my hand to anyone who wants to honestly address gun violence. they need to come with an open ,ind, and not a clenched fist or some other digit extended. [laughter] too many politicians at the state and federal levels will not act on common sense gun reform. some even tried to score cheap political points off of fallacies, and target cities like chicago. i am here to tell you the facts. chicago brought 2019 to a close for the third consecutive year of historic, record level reductions across the city. [applause] [applause]thank you robberies, burglaries, vehicle thefts were at their lowest level in more than two decades. with the lowest number of shootings since 2014, and murders since 2015. overall violent crime across neighborhoods dropped to a four year low. these gains were made because we are now treating violence as a public health epidemic. that means we are not just looking at the daily manifestations of it, but we are looking at the root causes, and making sure we have an all hands on deck approach to addressing this most pressing public safety issue. strategy withe chicago's schools, parks, libraries, and other city departments partnering with law enforcement and local community organizations to make sure that we make a huge difference in the daily public safety of residents. we have rolled up our sleeves so that safety is brought to every neighborhood, and is not just a commodity to the rich and wealthy. our work will not and until chicago is the safest big city in the country. lapre not taking a victory despite these gains. to do so would devalue the loss of life, and the life that are changed by gun violence. i am reminded of our children. a child was wounded by gunfire while trick-or-treating on halloween. a seven-year-old was shot early christmas morning. i am happy to tell you that both of these girls are recovering, but their lives are forever marked by the violence that they suffered on days that should have been joyous with themselves, their families and friends. while our numbers are improving, we know any statistic is cold families.ictims and 260 year, more than teenagers and children were shot. 35 had their lives cut short. 35. we have to stop burying our dreams and potentials in our young people who are struck by gun violence. i wake up every morning asking myself what i can do more. how we could have been there for these young children throughout their lives, and not trust at the end of it. i know many of you asked the same question. chicago, unfortunately is not alone. a nationale is epidemic tearing apart small towns and major cities alike. a constant often companion for residents to live with. they should not have to. we should pause and think about what is happening in seattle, and mayor jenny who flew back to her city to make sure she was there to offer this is an issue of life and death. on issues of public safety there is no time for petty political squabbles. our residents need us and they need us to deliver now. we have to and we will. ending the tragedy of gun violence demands we continue to build trust between police departments in the communities they serve. trust and legitimacy are the best tools for public safety that we have. it is earned through officers understanding and being a part of the community that they serve. one block through party, softball game, community barbecue at a time. this year will mark chicago's first full year under a federally mandated reform of our police department. the success depends on our officers viewing it as an opportunity, not an obstacle. we will do just that. officers can achieve this alone. it requires all hands on deck. that is what we are doing in chicago. thenow we cannot view drivers of violence in isolation. they are part of the same ecosystem. real, meaningful assessments in our human capital. our people, families, and neighborhood. investments in these will drive economic developments. let me share with you one example of what we are doing in chicago. initiative last fall that we are calling advanced southwest. we are making advancements in west side, the traditionally african-american neighborhoods. we repurposed $750 million of city resources that we are urging our corporate partners to join us with. we are looking at existing commercial corridors. we are not starting with a piece of paper. we are working in collaboration with people on the ground in these neighborhoods. it is not just retail. we are looking at ways that we could build healthy, safe, vibrant neighborhoods. we bring in the customers and the foot traffic in those commercial corridors in that willborhoods that we know be important. we are expanding the land beyond retail. infrastructure, streetscape, common places where intergenerational folks can gather. we have tremendous success. we are having another open house saturday. we have 1200 people signed up to come to be a part of redesigning the future of our neighborhood. when we announce this investment last october, a national bank donated $10cago million on top of our investment to help further the work that we are doing. since that time starbucks, one of the supporters of this conference gave us another $10 million. the door is open. get the investment over $1 billion. i'm happy to report that we are well on our way. [applause] the key here to all of our challenges, whether it is public safety or otherwise is that we are working in collaboration with stakeholders, people of goodwill in these neighborhoods. not doing for them but doing with them. based upon what the individual needs are. we are all coming off of celebrating martin luther king day. over the communities all the country just like ours, we saw an outpouring of people doing the right thing. not taking the day off. having a day on. working in food pantries, working on redevelopment projects. that spirit that is out there in all of our communities across the country is the spirit we need to continue to harvest to push our communities forward in a meaningful way. hopefully the people in washington will realize we will get more done by working together and the gridlock that leaves many of us worrying about whether or not our investments of our federal partners make any sense. i'm confident in 2020 because of the great work bears are doing over the country we will be able to move forward in a bigger way. they arere people feel heard and respected. if we do that, there is nothing that can stop us from moving the city and our country forward. thank you very much for your time. [applause] ♪ >> thank you so much, mayor lightfoot. there is a new energy and excitement in the city of chicago. i'm pleased to introduce a is at least in my area is well known. he is the ceo of cruz. as president of general motors he manage the business operations around the world and led the 2016 acquisition of cruz. since then he has helped crews billion in committed capital and attracted softbank, honda, and t. rowe price as investors. he is with us to discuss how self driving cars will help transform our cities. please welcome dan amann. [applause] ♪ >> somewhere along the road to freedom the car trapped us. we sought the open road. man and machine. clogged, airways polluted, and the cost of the and life.oney, time, 40,000 people gone in the united states. the average car emits three times its own weight in carbon dioxide. that is every gas car, every single year. , american commuters waste over 8 billion hours of life sitting in traffic. we don't have to settle for this. of tomorrow is watching the choices we make today. the same way we watch those before us. we choose to put planes in the air, people on the moon. this is the end of the human driven gasoline powered single occupant car. future.nning of the future beyond the car. >> every time we get on the road we are faced with trade-offs, should i spend $30 or 30 minutes of my time? should i run that yellow light or hang back and be safe? nevermind things we should do like sneak a peek -- should not do like sneak a peek at the phone behind the wheel. there is an inherent tension between doing what is good for us versus what is good for the world. when we are forced to choose being human, we generally choose what is best for us. today in america most humans choose the single occupant gasoline powered human driven car. that is the current available alternative for folks. what if we didn't have to choose? what if we could create a transportation system entirely, what would that look like? earlier this week we shared what could be possible and unveiled the first step towards achieving that vision. -- crl it the cruz origin uise origin. it is built for shared mobility. you need to understand where we are coming from. let's wind the clock back and take a look at the major design features of a car from 50 years ago. first, the car requires a human operator, otherwise known as a driver. a whole lot of equipment to interface with the car. steering wheel, pedals, other controls. second, it burns fossil fuels and has an engine upfront and exhaust in the rear. it takes up space for the human operator to control the engine, gas tank, you are left with a small place for passengers. since we are in the 1970's, the color of the car is beige. [laughter] 50 good news is that over years mankind has achieved unprecedented technological advancements and everything from computers to medicine. let's look at what 50 years of automotive progress looks like. not very much has changed. if you look carefully you will see the color has involved. car still needs all of the stuff a car from 50 years ago has. all of that means most of the space in the car is not available for passengers. they are crammed into a small amount of space left over. the first thing you do is get rid of the fossil fuel burning. the next thing you do is remove the driver. no matter how advanced the car as the driver is tired, frustrated, and rushed. you don't need a steering wheel, pedals, review mirrors, economy class seating arrangements. you get rid of all that. what you'd be left with is the wheels. we did big about reinventing the wheel but we decided this is one place where we didn't have any great new ideas. what we have done is reinvented pretty much everything else. by getting rid of all of the stuff in the car we could have something simple, all some -- awesome, and missing in life today. space. space for you and space where other people don't have to sit. this is not an improvement on the car, it is completely different. deepews, with our partnership we have roots in the automotive industry. we didn't want to just improve on the car. we wanted to reimagine transportation as if the car never existed. what we came up with is in a car you buy. it is a self driven experience that you share. it answers the question about what transportation system you would build if you could start from scratch. meet thecruise origin. it looks big but it is no bigger than your average car. efficient,more taking full use of the space it takes up on the road. car are safer.he the entry is low to the ground and three times larger than that of an average car. wide enough to make room for one person to step in while another steps out. dramatically improving accessibility. the ability to flex to six people and every seat gives you extra legroom. what that means is very important. it is a significantly better experience than traditional ridesharing and will increase the number of people willing to share their rides. by creating shared mobility we will be able to address contention -- congestion. you open up the app and it is like rolling the dice. you might get a compact car that smells like amount due counsel -- mountain dew because they've been up since 4:00 a.m. that is a stressful way to get around. you shouldn't have to get lucky to feel comfortable or be safe. that brings up an important origin.of the cruise we rely on our eyes and ears. even with 2020 vision and perfect hearing, we can only look in one direction and see and hear so much. technology includes a multilayered suite designed to keep track of people and objects. even if they are far away, pitch black or in rain or fog. origin is powered by a brand-new electric platform powered by general motors. for those benefits of safety, cleaner air, or less congestion it will only improve life in our cities. that is why we have been saying for a while now that delivering self-driving car's isn't just about winning the tech race, it is about winning the tech race and the trust race. we have seen what happens when transformative technologies are deployed without deep engagement and consideration for the community. we are taking a different approach. is wehat means for you are designing our service to complement mass transit, not to work against it. was people are lucky enough to live in a city with robust public transportation. for those of us that do it does not accomplish every need. -- you see in san francisco the current lines. the orange lines shows what one of our cars does today every day. you could travel from point to point to places that might be currently underserved by mass transit. that could help what is there and do it in a way that is safer and better for your citizens then current taxis, rideshare, or personal car ownership. it also needs to be more affordable. if we are serious about improving life in our cities, we need huge numbers of people to use the cruise origin. to use shared mobility. that won't happen unless we deliver on a very simple proposition. we need to deliver a better experience at a lower price than what it cost people to get around today. francisco, in san the first city we plan to launch and, whether you own your own car or use rideshare, we believe we will be able to cut $5,000 from every household transportation budget. beyond saving money and means further cars on streets. -- fewer cars on streets. far fewer cars in parking lots. and far fewer cars in the scrapyard. t better formakes i the planet. remember those trade-offs i talked about earlier between doing what is right for you versus what is right for the world? eliminated that trade-off. what is right for you is now the same thing as what is right for the world. experience and affordable transportation is right for you and it is electric and shared with parts of the world. in launching with our communities and not apart from our communities. we are moving as fast as possible to make this happen and to help people improve lives and our cities on a large scale. i would like to thank mayor barnett and the u.s. conference of mayors for having me here. have a great conference, thank you. [applause] ♪ autonomous vehicles, driverless cars are all the rage. something i think all mayors are focused on and interested in. thank you for those remarks. next we have a special announcement and a quick update on the 2020 mayors leadership institute. you heard me mention in my remarks yesterday some of the great benefits of being a part of this conference of mayors. participating in things like sxsw. this is one of those incredible things in new york city. the mayors 2018, leadership institute is a collaboration between the united states conference of mayors and new york university's wagner's school of public service. small groups of mayors are invited twice a year to bring challenges using technology to solve these problems. are there any mayors in the crowd who participated? anybody? [applause] >> only a few smart mayors. we will work to change that. the person who will change that is gordon campbell. -- professor of practice at nyu. please give a warm around of applause for gordon. thank you. thank you, good morning. smart cities use data and technology to solve public problems at pace, scale, and level of effectiveness not imaginable even a few years ago. smart cities approach raises new issues for city leaders such as yourself around confidentiality. and mostivacy, importantly how to manage traditional public services in a digital age. smart cityveloped exists anywhere in this country or for that matter the world. hence, as a result as mayor burton indicated, the wagoner school of public service have traded the mayors leadership institute on smart cities. this is an example of one of many partnerships between the conference and nyu. generated --62 is the smart cities institute is generated and enables you and your fellow mayors a safe space and quiet space to learn about smart cities in general and how to use the latest technology in data to transform cities. the institute is much like the design institute, which many of you have attended. we have two ambitious goals. define and learn the latest about smart cities and two, build that major initiative for you to bring home. goals areold, our both tactical and visionary. we found working together across cities, the smart city and offers an opportunity to learn more than anyone city could accomplish on its own. let me give you a few examples. we work with shreveport and pittsburgh on expanding public wi-fi and broadband. in montana we worked on technology for parking and traffic. west sacramento, topeka, and henderson work on city services more accessible for residents. today it has confined three times. the next institute will be held eighth.ay 6 through the thanks to our sponsors, there are no cost for participating mayors. you each have on your chair a postcard that indicates the mayors leadership institute on smart cities and experts in peer driven learning environments. --you are insisted interested, please reach out to david burns and we hope we have the opportunity to work with you. thank you so much. thank you. ♪ >> are you guys still with us? mayors, are you in the room? are you ready? we have a really excited transition here to someone i think you all know and love. our next speaker certainly is no stranger to most of you in this room or certainly to the conference of mayors. as theknow mayor pete former mayor of south bend. first elected in 2011 at only 29 years old, he helped turn south bend from one of america's 10 dying cities to a city seeing population growth for the first time in decades. the global economy for many key industries. it was a year ago today that mayor pete made a major announcement regarding his plans. he formerly served as an elected member of the united states conference of dry -- advisory board. he joined us in iowa we first launched the mayor 2020 vision. our vision for america and call to action. i believe we have so many common ground issues that we can work out together and priorities that we share contained in this agenda. pete, we hear from mayor to present him with a plaque from the city of south bend and the united states conference of mayors. before i do that, i want to thank him personally for elevating the profile and the significance of mayors through his campaign. he has done it with professionalism and civility. we are also incredibly proud. join us inease welcoming back home, former mayor pete buttigieg. [applause] ♪ mr. buttigieg: thank you. it feels good to be amongst friends. a big thank you for your leadership not only in the community but in the community of mayors. a mayor who was also president, i like the sound of that. over my eight years as mayor giving out honors and acknowledgments became one of the parts of the job i like the best. . appreciate the role reversal as i appreciated the friendship of so many in this room as i join you for the first time as a retiree. day, a historic time in our nations capital. what a time it is to be an american. what time it is to be an elected official. tot a time it is to belong the united states conference of mayors. that rare body of high-profile elected officials from all states and both parties who concentrate on getting things done and actually like each other. rare, butnot be so here we are. so much will depend i believe on whether 2020 proves to be the year we can start getting the ways of washington. [applause] it is not without some emotion that i'm standing in front of you. it was exactly a year ago on this day and in this place that we first launched the fororatory committee president that became my campaign. then off a lot of people thought putting a mayor and the white house seemed a little bit improbable. four in ataff of little office back home. smaller than the stage area where i'm standing. i had no big email list, no senatorial pack. i had a personal fortune amounting to thousands of dollars. in the name that didn't exactly roll off the tongue. has come toit my first name being mary in last name being pete. we had an idea that we would be better off if washington started to look like some of our best run cities and town. amid leaders who create facts out of thin air and dismissed unfavorable coverage as fake news, we made the case for a president accountable for reality in the way that all mayors are. inyors do not get to sp alternative facts when there is a problem for all to see in the city. we don't get to print our own city currency while failing to balance our budget. we don't get to divide our own public for political gain. when you are responsible for delivering clean, safe drinking water cannot just shut down the government over some disagreement, we just have to get the job done. in visiting so many communities across this country in this last iowawhether it is in rural or in south carolina, we could argue that it makes sense to have someone who speaks on behalf of a community that itself was sometimes left for dead. when i'm asked about the fact that i come not from one of our great local cities but from a midsize community in the middle of the industrial midwest, the so-called rust belt. i say that is very much part of the point. that message has resonated so deeply that a year after that improbable beginning, we are just days away from being able beginning instoric the iowa caucuses and move onto the nomination for the american president. [applause] one year after this began, less than a year to go, i believe before a day in the future that i think about a lot. i always ask voters to visualize. the first day that the sun comes up in this president is no longer in the oval office. [applause] it is not in a partisan spirit that i offer up that image. an awful lot of democrats and ts, andot of independen republicans looking forward to that day. i raise the image of that day that it is not the day our struggles and. it is that day our work begins. that day the sun will come up over an economy where so many of our community's are fighting just to hold on to what they've got. rapidly approaching a point of no return. the sun will be coming up over schools where kids are getting active shooter drills before they learn how to read. it will be more important than ever then we have a president -- that we have a president who recognizes that on that day we and be even more divided exhausted from fighting than we are today. fundamentally new and different challenges, it is clear that these national and will have tonges come to washington, not from washington. for america'sws mayors. from waterloo to west sacramento we are putting cities and towns at the center of what we do. we take on an issue like climate change, the global security threat of our time. cities are leading the way. we have to not only rejoin the paris agreement, it is time to convene a pittsburgh summit to empower communities that have been finding local solutions, not waiting for washington to catch up. steps likee take next-generation resilience hubs, provide data and tools to support the communities at risk. when it comes to infrastructure, which is the one area where this president arrived with very high expectations on both sides of the aisle. i will admit that to some extent he had me fooled. we knew infrastructure was a bipartisan priority, good for the economy and sought for americans from coast-to-coast. unveiled thatplan had local governments doing the heavy lifting, which is how it works already. we put forward a $1 trillion plan that will allow mayors to tailor solutions that will grow populations and add businesses and jobs. under my administration you will have that support. [applause] knowing that no one can better build up our communities and america's mayors, we will double grants toblock $6 billion a year. when i'm president we will reduce racial health disparities. go and confront the crisis of mental health and addiction care through 1 -- $10 billion so they could leverage their own expertise. the time has come for us to break the silence on mental health. we trust communities to design this in a way that makes sense for you. we will help you do that. it makes sense to focus on housing for those who are confronting addition. we will help you with that. massive investment in affordable housing and homelessness. to target those resources where they are needed most. we will triple title i funding for schools. so the funding gets where it needs to go and we will back that funding with a secretary of education who believes in public education. to answers don't all have come from washington. more of the resources should. on my watch, they will. [applause] i already see around our troubled and divided nation the moral faculties around what i am needed. our deeper issues as a nation i sought in a backyard in iowa when a high school student came up and told me our campaign told us she now belongs in the way she wasn't sure of before. she does not have to be ashamed even though she has autism. it was a moment that showed me we were getting somewhere. in a sense of belonging before the first vote was cast. i saw somebody in emmitsburg a few days ago. asked about border separation not because she is an immigration policy buffer but her father shared walked out on their family a few years ago she knows exactly what a family separation is. she did not strike me as somebody who would be near the border. have the moral imagination to put herself in the shoes of a six-year-old salvadoran boy on the border. showed me in our communities will -- we already have the capacity to move ahead to a better day. we have that reflected in washington. we are on the ground. dealing with these issues at the most human level and understanding the policy picture through the human story, not the other way around. that is why as president i will not just be inviting the community of mayors, i will be inviting the perspective of mayors back into the conversation. [applause] this is a time to bring to the highest office of the land the perspective that only a mayor, only my fellow mayors can offer. the lessons you have learned so often the hardest, what to do when it is time for a decision. to call,no one else you are not in the comfort of a committee room but on the ground. what to do when your city is looking to you to manage an emergency from the historic flooding mayor turner faced in houston, to the dreadful gun violence mayor whaley, mayor vargo and somebody others have had to respond to. urgency that confronted mayor landrieu when it was time to bring down the statues. what to do when the people you have appointed and trust who are experts in their field who you consider smarter than you come to you with contradictory recommendations and you must choose. the knowledge that every mayor has that executive leadership is about policy but not only about policy, it is about management. and administration. not only about management and administration, as a mayor, as a leader, you most turn your paycheck in those moments when the opportunity arises, when the need arises for you to call a divided community to its highest shared values. if that is true of mayors, that is particularly true of the president. , no matterour party your ideology, i believe it is clear today that the most costly deficiency of our current president is the failure to understand this calling of leadership. in the same way that a mayor is a walking symbol of the unity of the city that this is so much more so for the president. designed to signal to this country that no matter your politics we do belong to the same republic. countryot fully love a that you have people in. we are in this together. officenning because the of presidency has a purpose. i believe the purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the president. it is the empowerment and unification of the people to pick things up. [applause] especially in times like these. we can fix things that are broken. with a mayors view. an mayors readiness to fight when we must fight by an awareness to know we must never get so caught up in fighting that fighting is all we've got. to remember that on the others of any fight lies the chance at a better future. one we can build together where the american experience is defined not by exclusion but by belonging. running because we don't have to choose between our head and our heart. we don't have to choose between how best to win and how best to govern. we don't have to choose between unity and boldness. we cannot have any of those things unless we have all of those things. if you put a mayor in charge and look to the future, this will be our chance to turn the page. thank you for your leadership and thank you for having me. [applause] ♪ >> i think that guy is going places. something about him. we are going to adjourn in just a minute. before we do we will tell you what the next hour and a half looks like and when we will be back in this room. there is a few forums, one on homelessness. one on public safety, one on 2020. storage, and one on we will be back in this room at 1:00 p.m. for the childhood obesity prevention luncheon. just to give you a quick snapshot of what we are going to do, we will hear from the mayor of austin, our friends at major league baseball, we will hear from mayor garcetti of los angeles. just one moment, we will hear from someone i promise you will enjoy. if you haven't heard dr. frank before he will really enjoy what he has to say. he will yell -- tell you words to use, words to lose, ed what the 2020 electorate is looking for. we have an incredible agenda in the next few hours. this is adjourned, we will see you back at 1:00 p.m. have a great afternoon everyone. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> i would live coverage continues today in new hampshire at 6:00 p.m. with tulsa gabbard in claremont. sunday, elizabeth warren in the cedar rapids, iowa. watch our live coverage on c-span, ondemand on c-span.org or listen on the go with the free c-span radio app. c-span's campaign 2020 differs from all political coverage. it is c-span. the people who brought you unfiltered view of government since 1979 are bringing you and unfiltered view of the people seeking to steer that government this november. in other words, your future. your own mind. with c-span's campaign 2020. brought to you as a public service by your cable television provider. >> the senate impeachment trial of president trump continues today at 1:00 p.m. eastern as house managers continue to present their case.

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